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May 13, 2010

You know, before the NCAA moved the draft withdrawal date to May 8, these revised, but still-way-too-soon lists of preseason top-25 basketball teams weren’t out until June. At least by then you also had a better idea about which teams might have injuries or academic casualties (either present or incoming class).

Here are yet a few more top-25 revisions.

Mike DeCourcy from the Sporting News comes in with the lowest ranking in to this point with a ten-spot.

10. Pitt. The Panthers need their youngest players to score. They relied too heavily on Ashton Gibbs last season and won more games than most anyone — Louisville, WVU, Providence — that could have gone either way. If sophomore Dante Taylor and some of the team’s freshmen can improve the offense, they might not need to win as many close games.

You could throw Wofford, Duquesne (2OT) and Cinci into that mix of either OT or games won by 3 points or less for Pitt. On the other side of the ledger, only two losses — Seton Hall and Xavier were by 3 points or less. And in both cases, it took a furious late effort just to make those losses that close. 6-2 in games that close. There’s a reason my liver took a few extra hits this past season.

Gary Parrish for CBS Sports updates his list with Pitt at #6.

The top three scorers — and seven of the top eight — return from a 25-win team, including Ashton Gibbs, Brad Wannamaker and Gilbert Brown. The roster still doesn’t seem imposing from an individual-talent perspective. But it’s basically the same roster Jamie Dixon used to tear through the Big East last season. There’s no reason to believe he won’t do similar things next season.

He does have ‘Nova at #4 and installs them as a slight favorite for the conference over Pitt. Lot of ‘Nova love this offseason. Seems that their late season swoon and Tourney flop is being pinned on Scottie Reynolds. How quickly they can turn.

Rivals.com is a fan of Pitt. Putting the Panthers at #4.

BUZZ: The Panthers went 25-9 overall and 13-5 in the Big East in what was supposed to be a rebuilding season. Guard Ashton Gibbs was a revelation as a sophomore, and he should continue to improve. The Panthers need to beef up the frontcourt to justify their top-five ranking. The Panthers will look to sophomore Dante Taylor, a former McDonald’s All-American, to contribute more than 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds.

The top-2 or 3 in all of these lists seems to be some order of Duke, Michigan St. and Purdue.

If you are interested, the NCAA released attendance figures for 2009-10 (PDF). Eighteen homegames with a total attendance of 185,209. That averaged 10,289. That was 7th in the Big East and 42d overall. Not bad in a rebuilding year. Esepcially with a non-con that was light on marquee home games. Should be better this season with the expectations.





Your liver took a hit Chas? I don’t remember you taking 12 shots of magic Jim Beam to help the boys beat WVU in 3-OT… read the blog-cast if you need a memory refresher

Comment by David Goldstein 05.13.10 @ 3:29 pm

The weather didn’t exactly help the home attendence figure either.

Comment by Pabs 05.13.10 @ 3:57 pm

they lost the seton hall game w/ local playing i am sure a decent crowd

Comment by Kurt 05.13.10 @ 6:31 pm

I went to the snowed out games because I was a student and could hoof it. They were very empty because of the weather indeed. My mother was going to come in from about 30 minutes away but it was just too bad. If you were not in Oakland you might not understand how completely shut down we were. No class for 3 days, roads not cleared for days, just a total mess.

Comment by Mattew 05.13.10 @ 11:01 pm

What is lost in many(not all) of the early prognostications is the impact the incoming freshman.

With all due respect to the recent classes, the current incoming class are tremendous talents, miles above the previous classes coming in, and can become elite with the guidance of Coach Dixon.

I can’t wait to see our boys for the first round of the tourney in Cleveland!

Comment by Pauly P 05.13.10 @ 11:25 pm

I saw a TV commentator (I believe on ESPN’s Around the Horn) points that the decline in attendance is a sign that the post-season tourney renders regular season games meaningless … and said maybe college FB should stay with the BCS. I suggest that he isn’t privy to BE or ACC conference games where league games are taken very seriously … and weather permitting, the good games always sellout.

Football has its own unique issues but when I was a BB season ticket holder for 5 years, I only missed a few pre-season and only one BE game, many times in bad weather (although I admit I would have missed a couple of games this past season due to the weather.)

Comment by wbb 05.14.10 @ 6:56 am

yeah .. im excited to see what the freshman can do… also redshirt guys playing.. like talib. And hopefully dante now with some experience under his belt will be more of a force.

And will the real gil brown please step up ?

Comment by Snala the Panther 05.14.10 @ 9:40 am

Gilbert might step up, but it might be in Europe. I bet purse strings are tightening all over the Continent, though, so maybe he’ll be back.

Don’t count on the freshmen to do much. There just aren’t that many minutes to throw around. Maybe some time in the backcourt for Epps (but much more highly rated guards than him have really struggled in their first yr of BE comp) and if Gilbert does come back, then there’s no time at all available for the wings.

Where they could use some new talent is in the frontcourt, but unfortunately, that’s not what’s coming in.

Having a glut of backcourt/wing players should make for awesome practice competition, but it won’t make much difference outside of that.

Comment by hugh green 05.14.10 @ 1:04 pm

Yeah, I’m afraid the real Gil Brown has already stepped up. The dude is what, 30 years old? I think his kids go to middle school with mine. Seriously, he seems pretty close to fully formed as a player. We didn’t see any dramatic change in his game last year and wouldn’t expect one next. I hate to say it, but he (and Pitt) would probably be better off if he trades his skills for Euro’s or Franc’s or pounds or whatever the currency over there is next year.

Comment by Boubacar AW 05.14.10 @ 8:34 pm

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